Federal department or agency
Railroad Retirement Board
Railroad Retirement Board obligated $44.7M on federal contracts in FY2026 across 290 contract actions (+4% vs FY2025). Its largest recipient was PALMETTO GBA, LLC ($16.2M). It also awarded $11B in federal grants and other assistance in FY2026.
- Obligations · FY2026
- $44.7M
- Actions
- 290
- New awards: 96
- Sole-source
- 6.4%
- Small business
- 22%
Spending by fiscal year
Obligations per federal fiscal year (October–September).
- 39.5MFY2017
- 33MFY2018
- 39.4MFY2019
- 41.9MFY2020
- 55.6MFY2021
- 52.4MFY2022
- 65.5MFY2023
- 34.2MFY2024
- 43MFY2025
- 44.7MFY2026
- 0FY2027
Sub-agencies
Obligations in FY2026.
- Railroad Retirement Board$44.7M100%
Top recipients
Obligations in FY2026.
- PALMETTO GBA, LLC$16.2M36%
- CARAHSOFT TECHNOLOGY CORP$3.8M8.4%
- CHEROKEE NATION SYSTEM SOLUTIONS LLC$2.3M5.1%
- CGI FEDERAL INC.$2.2M5.0%
- ICALLIDUS, INC.$1.9M4.2%
- WILSON 5 SERVICE COMPANY, INC.$924.7K2.1%
- AT&T ENTERPRISES, LLC$901.7K2.0%
- FLEXION INC$870K1.9%
What was bought · Where the work was performed
Obligations in FY2026.
What was bought
- IT & telecom$22.8M51%
- Education & social services$16.2M36%
- Facilities & utilities$2.2M4.9%
- Professional services$1.3M2.9%
- Construction & real property$1.2M2.6%
- Equipment maintenance$693.1K1.6%
- Other equipment & supplies$186.4K0.4%
- Health & medical$48.6K0.1%
- Weapons, aircraft, ships & vehicles$40.2K0.1%
Where the work was performed
- Illinois$28.5M64%
- South Carolina$16.2M36%
- Arizona$14.1K0.0%
- Georgia$12K0.0%
Integrity signals
Shares of the year's obligations, next to the country's.
- Low competition35%US 39% · $15.8M
- Sole-source awards6.4%US 30% · $2.9M
- Single-offer competitions29%US 8.7% · $13M
- Urgency justifications0.0%US 5.1% · $0
- Year-end rush5.7%US 6.0% · $2.6M
- Undefinitized contracts0.0%US 5.0% · $0
- Time-and-materials pricing1.6%US 4.2% · $729.9K
A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.
Offices with the most sole-source money
- RRB - ACQUISITION MGMT DIVISION$2.9M6.4%Railroad Retirement Board
Largest awards
- PALMETTO GBA, LLC· Richland County, SC· Education & social services· Oct 25, 2016 – May 8, 2026· RRB12C011
- PALMETTO GBA, LLC· Richland County, SC· Education & social services· Jun 14, 2024 – Sep 2, 2026· 60RRBH24C0001
- INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION· Cook County, IL· IT & telecom· Nov 25, 2020 – Dec 3, 2025· 60RRBH21F0040
- CHEROKEE NATION SYSTEM SOLUTIONS LLC· Cook County, IL· IT & telecom· Sep 20, 2023 – Oct 6, 2026· 60RRBH23C0080
Federal grants & assistance awarded
Grants, loans (counted at their subsidy cost), direct payments and insurance, by fiscal year of the action (USAspending.gov, FABS). Reported apart from contracts and never added to them.
Railroad Retirement Board obligated $11B in federal assistance in FY2026, on 86,156 actions (0 new awards), −24% vs FY2025. Its largest program was 57.001 · Social Insurance for Railroad Workers ($11B).
- Assistance · FY2026
- $11B
- New awards
- 0
- Actions
- 86.2K
- Since FY2021
- $81B
Assistance by fiscal year
- 13.4BFY2021
- 13.6BFY2022
- 14.1BFY2023
- 14.4BFY2024
- 14.5BFY2025
- 11BFY2026
By type
- Direct payments$11B100%
Top programs
- 57.001 · Social Insurance for Railroad Workers$11B100%
Where it went
- Texas$812.7M7.4%
- Illinois$652M5.9%
- Florida$634.7M5.7%
- Pennsylvania$591.8M5.4%
- New York$484.4M4.4%
- California$482.7M4.4%
- Ohio$412.3M3.7%
- Missouri$395.1M3.6%
- Nebraska$394.6M3.6%
- Georgia$370.1M3.4%
By state of the place of performance.
Sub-agencies
- Railroad Retirement Board$11B100%
Source: Federal financial assistance transactions (Financial Assistance Broker Submission) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 8, 2026, loaded Oct 8, 2026 · FY2021–FY2026.
Federal grants & assistanceSubawards under this agency's awards
First-tier subawards that recipients of this agency's contracts and financial assistance reported, by the fiscal year of the subaward.
FY2026
- Sub-contracts: $662.9K (9 subawards)
5 sub-recipients
Largest sub-recipients
- VIVA USA INC.$313.6K47%ROLLING MEADOWS, IL · 3 subawards
- NEWGEN TECHNOLOGIES, INC$176.6K27%FULTON, MD · 3 subawards
- DIGITRAN TECHNOLOGIES INC.$62.4K9.4%FAIRFAX, VA · 1 subaward
- ORACLE AMERICA, INC.$60.4K9.1%RESTON, VA · 1 subaward
- CREATIVE GLOBAL CONSULTING LLC$50K7.5%COLUMBIA, MD · 1 subaward
Primes report first-tier subawards of $30,000 or more themselves, and many go unreported (GAO-24-106214). Reporting moved from FSRS to SAM.gov in March 2025 and fewer sub-contracts have been reported since. Amounts are what primes reported; they are never added to prime award totals.
Source: Subawards (first-tier sub-contracts and sub-grants reported under FFATA) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov (reports filed in SAM.gov, formerly FSRS)), data current to Oct 9, 2026, loaded Oct 9, 2026 · Subawards loaded from FY2021.
Who lobbies this agency
Organizations whose quarterly lobbying reports list this agency as contacted, ranked by the reports' spending. A report's amount covers all its issues and every agency it lists; reports do not split it.
- Lobbying in 2026
- $4.1M
- Clients
- 9
- Reports
- 17
The whole amount of every report that lists this agency.
Organizations lobbying it, 2026
- ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN RAILROADS$1.4MNot matched to a contract recipient · Railroads, Transportation, Labor issues, antitrust and workplace
- TRANSPORTATION TRADES DEPARTMENT, AFL-CIO$780KNot matched to a contract recipient · Railroads, Transportation, Labor issues, antitrust and workplace
- NORFOLK SOUTHERN CORPORATION$700KNot matched to a contract recipient · Railroads, Budget and appropriations, Trade (domestic and foreign)
- Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen$491.8KNot matched to a contract recipient · Railroads
- Transport Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO$320KNot matched to a contract recipient · Railroads, Transportation, Labor issues, antitrust and workplace
- Soo Line Railroad Company$261KNot matched to a contract recipient · Railroads, Transportation, Budget and appropriations
- 0.0% of its family's FY2026 contracts from this agency · Railroads, Transportation, Labor issues, antitrust and workplace
- AMERICAN TRAIN DISPATCHERS ASSOCIATION$0Not matched to a contract recipient · Transportation, Labor issues, antitrust and workplace, Railroads
- Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division, IBT$0Not matched to a contract recipient · Railroads, Transportation, Labor issues, antitrust and workplace
Lobbying amounts are the filers' own good-faith estimates on quarterly LD-2 reports (the law asks for amounts rounded to $10,000; under $5,000 need not be itemized), latest amendment only. When an organization files its own report, it replaces what outside firms report for it that quarter. Matches are by name. Lobbying and political giving are legal and public: they show engagement with government, not influence over any award. Correlation is not influence: these organizations' lobbying and their contracts are shown side by side, and nothing here implies either affected the other.
Source: Lobbying disclosures (LD-1 registrations, LD-2 quarterly reports, LD-203 contribution reports) (Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives), data current to Oct 9, 2026, loaded Oct 9, 2026 · 2023–2026.
Source: Committees, candidates and committee contributions to candidates (Federal Election Commission), data current to Oct 9, 2026, loaded Oct 9, 2026 · 2026, 2024, 2022.
Matches: Analisa AI name judgments (entity-match@1), updated Sep 30, 2026.
Committees that oversee and fund it
Congressional committees whose jurisdiction includes this agency, and the appropriations subcommittees that write its spending bill (Analisa's reading of the House and Senate rules; committees share jurisdiction). Leaders as currently published.
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Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 9, 2026, loaded Oct 9, 2026.